The Internet and personal computers have become ubiquitous in modern society. People regularly access to the Internet via their personal computer for any number of purposes. As a consequence of the popularity of computers, many households and small businesses now own and use more than one personal computer. Traditionally, most home and small business computer users have accessed the Internet via a modem plugged in to a telephone line. However, as only one computer can use a standard analog phone line at a time, the multiple computers now present in many homes and small businesses cannot simultaneously connect to an Internet service provider. One solution that allows multiple users to simultaneously access the Internet is via a local area network (LAN). When multiple computers are connected to a LAN, only the LAN need be connected to the Internet for all of the computers on the LAN to be connected to the Internet. A problem with traditional LANs is that computers must be connected by a cable to the LAN cable, and most homes and small businesses do not have wiring that allows for a LAN. To install such wiring may be cost prohibitive. One solution is connecting computers to one another wirelessly.
To allow users to more conveniently access computers, wireless networking products have been introduced. One such product, AirPort™ by Apple Computer, Inc. of Cupertino, Calif., provides wireless communications between multiple computers and a base station to form a LAN, where only the base station is physically connected to a cable that provides access to the Internet. Via the AirPort™ product, access to the Internet may be via DSL, analog phone line, CATV cable modem, or integrated services digital network (ISDN) line. A software base station has also been developed such that only one computer need be physically connected to an Internet access cable, and other computers in the LAN communicate wirelessly with the computer running a software base station program to access the Internet.
While using the Internet, hidden from the user are the various communications protocols that make the Internet function. Various committees and ad hoc groups known as working groups coordinate and control the Internet. The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is the protocol engineering and development arm of the Internet. Working groups under the IETF determine the rules and protocols for the underlying functionality of the Internet and publish them as requests for comment, commonly referred to as RFCs.
Most computers on the Internet, including web sites, are identified by a domain name. Uniform resource locators (URLs) usually contain the IP address or the domain name of the web server where the resource is located. Each domain name is effectively translated into an Internet protocol (IP) address. The format of an IP address is a 32 bit numeric address expressed as four decimal numbers, each separated by a dot commonly referred to as “dotted-decimal notation.” Each number must be in the range from zero to 255. For example, 207.105.50.5 is an IP address. It is the IP address that is used by underlying network software when a personal computer communicates over the Internet. When using the Internet, to request that a particular web site be displayed, a name to IP address translation is performed that is transparent to the user. More information about the domain name system and IP addresses can be obtained from the following documents: P. Mockapetris, Domain Names—Concepts And Facilities, RFC 1034, November 1987, http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc1034.txt; P. Mockapetris, Domain Names—Implementation And Specification, RFC 1035, November 1987, http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc1035.txt. Information is communicated over the Internet via the User Datagram Protocol connectionless transport protocol running on top of the Internet Protocol (UDP/IP) or via the Transmission Control Protocol running on top of the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). Many personal computers utilize the point to point protocol (PPP) to communicate with an Internet service provider to obtain a link to the Internet. More information is available from J. Postel, User Datagram Protocol, RFC 768, Aug. 28, 1980, http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/nfc768.txt; T. Socolofsky, A TCP/IP Tutorial, RFC 1180, January 1991 and http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc1180.txt, and W. Simpson, editor, The Point-to-Point Protocol, RFC 1661, http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1661.txt.
When using application programs and computer systems that transparently establish a dial-up connection to an Internet service provider, when a request is made for a web site, the connection to the Internet service provider must first be established. Such a connection takes time, and the amount of time needed typically exceeds the response time expected by the application program that made the request. In addition, the operating system has a certain default timeout time such that upon expiration of the timeout, a message is sent to the application stating that the information about a requested web site cannot be obtained. This timeout message may also be displayed to the user by the operating system or the application. That is, when the name to IP address translation cannot be performed or is unsuccessful, the user is notified after a certain period of time has elapsed. In a system that provides for easy, transparent connection to the Internet, such error messages being communicated to the user ruins the transparency of the process, thus frustrating the user who expects an effortless connection to the Internet. Such frustration is magnified when a computer user is using a simplified network like the wireless communication and network connection system provided by Apple Computer via the AirPort™ Base Station and the AirPort™ Software Base Station. Whenever establishment of a dial-up connection is required, an amount of time greater than the default timeout allotted for by the operating system is typically exceeded. This timeout results in an error message being displayed to the computer user. Such an error message may cause the user to assume that there is a problem with the wireless connection, or that some other problem requires the user's attention. This inappropriate error message may cause the user to intervene in the startup process, thus defeating the ease of use of the transparent connection technology, and causing the user needless anxiety. A system and method for preventing such dial-up timeouts from reaching a computer system user is needed.
On a more global scale, the Internet is comprised of a series of hosts connected to one another by links of various kinds. To transfer information from one host to another not directly connected to a common link, a series of intermediary hosts must be traversed. These intermediary hosts are typically called routers, proxies, application layer gateways, etc. In some instances, one of the intermediary links may be down and may be slow to resume service. In this situation, the DNS resolver at the originating computer may timeout. A system and method for preventing timeouts caused when bringing up a slow to waken link is needed.